In the article "Yosemite and the Sierra Club" pp. 11-19, William E. Colby gives Muir much credit for the successful recession of the Valley to the federal government. He relates the long, intricate maneuvering that preceded the actual recession, and quotes a letter Muir wrote to Robert Underwood Johnson February 24, 1905: "I wish I could have seen you last night when you received my news of the Yosemite victory....Wish you could have heard the oratory of the opposition-fluffy, nebulous, shrieking, howling, threatening like sandstorms and dust whirlwinds in the desert....I am now an experienced lobbyist; my political education is complete. Have attended Legislature, made speeches, explained, exhorted, persuaded every mother's son of the legislators, newspaper reporters, and everybody else who would listen to me. And now that the fight is finished and my education as a politician and lobbyist is finished, I am almost finished myself."